The Nordic Network for the Study of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the First Millennium (NNJCI) is a network of faculty and PhD-students from Nordic academic institutions that coordinates annual, interdisciplinary excursions, with an integral seminar part, for Nordic PhD-students in disciplines within the wider field of the first millennium history of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, in their various contexts in the Mediterranean area in its widest sense.
See the programme for our new 2022 course: Jerusalem in History and Imagination
Religious development in the First Millennium
"During this period the ancient world was gradually transformed and there came into being, across Europe and West Asia, a triad of sibling civilizations, successors of Rome and Iran, whose committments to revealed monotheism either Biblical in Greek and Latin Christendom, or Qur'anic in the Muslim world, was to varying degrees tempered by the rational principles derived from Greek and Roman Antiquity"
Garth Fowden, Before and After Muhammad. The First Millennium Refocused (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013), 50.
Aims and Motivation
The NNJCI is developed from the former NordForsk network for PhD-training Nordic Network for the Study of the Religious Roots of Europe. Dynamics in the Formation and Transformation of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which in turn was based on previous PhD-networks concerning religious development in Antiquity and Late Antiquity, as well as the masters programme Religious Roots of Europe.
The NNJCI is a response to the wish of PhD-students and faculty to continue such a research network, as it is a valuable contribution to and inspiration for their work and academic development.
The network therefore continues the work of these previous projects by organising annual PhD-courses in combination with an excursion, in order to provide wider, interdisciplinary learning venues for Nordic PhD-students within the field of religious studies that deal with Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the first millennium. Such venues, bringing together scholars from the Nordic countries, strengthen and stimulate research within this field, as the PhD-students will be able to engage with and draw on a much wider network of expertise.
NNJCI - what do we do?
The network organises annual PhD-courses, in the form of an excursion to a relevant destination and a seminar in connection to this. The courses take place sometime in November and last for between 5 to 12 days.
The courses are designed so that participants can be awarded 5 ECTS for their successful participation, toward the requirements of their doctoral training. However, it is up to the PhD-student to organise the approval of these ECTS with their own institution.
NNJCI - who can participate?
The network and its courses are designed to meet the needs of Nordic PhD-students, but also invites postdocs, advanced masters students and faculty in relevant fields.
We welcome PhD-students and participants from all Nordic institutions of higher education, that work within a relevant field of study.
NNJCI - how is it organised?
The network consists of a coordinator and steering committee whose task is to develop a plan for the network's activities, coordinate these and help promote the courses and other activities. For more information about the steering committee, please click here.
The courses themselves are organised by the institutions themselves, either alone or in cooperation with another institution.
NNJCI - how was it?
Read about the 2015 seminar in Rome here: Participant Reports 2015
Read about the 2017 seminar in Ethiopia here: Participants Reports 2017
Read about the 2018 seminar in Andalucia here: Participant Reports 2018